Kodiak, Alaska – The crew of an HC-130 Hercules aircraft from Air Station Kodiak flew more than 1,400 miles on an Arctic Domain Awareness flight travelling above Alaska’s northern coastline to assess the safety of an imperiled mobile Russian research station 560 miles northeast of Point Barrow Tuesday.

The 17th Coast Guard District obtained information from a website (http://en.rian.ru/russia/20100516/159032877.html) that 15 researchers at the Russian North Pole 37 Station are being threatened by shifting ice. Upon arrival on scene the aircrew contacted the researchers by radio.

The researchers reported they were well supplied, in no immediate distress and were preparing for the arrival of the Rossiya, an Arktika-class Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker.

“It’s not one big mass of solid ice up there as one might think. It looks kind of thin and there are lots of cracks and open water around and through their camp. If they needed it, we could have easily dropped rafts and emergency supplies from our C-130, but the Russians said they needed no assistance,” said Capt. William Deal, HC-130 Hercules pilot and commanding officer Air Station Kodiak.

Deal added that any rescue this far north would likely require use of a Coast Guard icebreaker or air-refuelable helicopters from the U.S. Air Force. Too far from Barrow, the closest possible airport, Coast Guard helicopters would not be able to reach them.